Born: December 6, 1933, Czernica, Poland
Died: November 11, 2010, Warsaw, Poland
Early days. Górecki started learning music in 1952. Then he studied composition with Boleslaw Szabelski at the State Higher School of Music (PWSM) in Katowice (1955-1960).
Teaching and creative career. After a post-graduate sojourn in Paris, he became (1968) a professor of composition at the PWSM in Katowice, and from 1975 to 1979 its President. As a composer, he has been known and respected in Poland, but constantly at odds with Poland's regime, he was little known in the West until the fall of Communism in 1989. The phenomenal success of his Symphony no. 3 (Gramophone's "Best-selling CD in 1993") has astounded many of his contemporaries, especially in Poland, where the work had been known for more than a decade. In his home country Górecki's Third was perceived as one of a series of fascinating compositions, the result of a long and complex creative evolution. Górecki has worked with great determination to develop his own compositional voice, through assimilating the techniques of his predecessors (Bartók, Szymanowski) and those active around him (Boulez, Xenakis, Nono), and then paring away all elements extraneous to his personal expression. These processes were carried out through the 1950s and 1960s, beginning with the Four Preludes for piano from 1955, his first numbered opus, and reaching full maturity with Old Polish Music from 1969. This is the most radical and dissonant period in his output: in the 1960s, Górecki belonged to the small group of the most avant-garde composers of his time. Together with Penderecki, Serocki, and others he established a pattern for new music: the more dissonance the better, the harsher the sounds, the better. This style of writing, associated with the so-called "Polish school of the 1960s" is alternatively known as "sound mass composition" or "sonoristic composition" - a name taken from "sonorous" or "sounding." In order to reduce music to pure sound, these composers stripped away all elements, except tone color. This path to the essentials is encapsulated by Górecki's Genesis cycle (1962-1963) and the aggressive Scontri for large symphony orchestra (1960)-- a work filled with clashes of vertical and horizontal sound patterns, often organized serially. During the 1970s, beginning with Ad Matrem (1971) and continuing through to Symphony No. 3, Symphony of Sorrowful Songs (1976)and Beatus Vir (1979) composed and conducted, despite official directives discouraging open displays of religiosity, in celebration of Pope John Paul's II's first pilgrimage to his homeland. In the Symphony No.3 Górecki worked to achieve a direct link between the emotional and spiritual content of texts, both sacred and traditional, and his musical architecture. He sought inspiration in early Polish music: a 13th-century conductus, a 16th-century polyphonic song. The 1980s saw an expansion of Górecki's compositional resources to encompass radical contrasts in tempo, dynamics, density and harmonic dissonance. Works of this period include Miserere (1981), and Totus Tuus (1987). These elements cooperated to create a unified, highly concentrated musical expression, manifested in a remarkable series of chamber works, from the trio Lerchenmusik (1984) to Little Requiem for a Polka [Kleines Requiem fur eine Polka] for an ensemble of fourteen instruments (1993). These compositions resound with echoes of Chopin, Beethoven, and Szymanowski. They also draw inspiration from colors and rhythms of folk music: the strong accents, harsh timbres, and relentless ostinati of mountain dances from the Tatras and Podhale region, the melancholy clarinet tunes of Silesia, the impetousness of the Czech--or Silesian--polka. There is so much to admire!. Symphony No. 3 comes just about the halfway point in Górecki's output to date. For many people, his achievement as a composer is fixed there. It should be known, however, that he has moved on, far beyond, while at the same time carrying forward the musical, emotional and spiritual concerns with which he has been preoccupied from the beginning. For, as the composer states, "music is one of the domains that people really need, and its importance only depends on whether one knows how to receive it."
Excerpts from the citation read during the ceremony of awarding Henryk Gorecki the University of Michigan’s honorary Doctor of Music degree: “One of the most talented classical composers of the twentieth century, Mr. Gorecki's works are firmly grounded in the things he holds most dear: Poland's heritage, religion, musical history, and folk culture. …While provost of one of Poland's premier music academies in Katowice, Mr. Gorecki struggled to protect his school, staff, and students from political interference. He went on to found a local Catholic Intellectuals Club to further the ideological struggle against a repressive communist state. In recognition of the pivotal role he has played in Western serial music, the transcending power of his work, and his moral courage, the University of Michigan is honored to bestow upon Henryk Gorecki the honorary degree of Doctor of Music.”
Honors and awards:
1960 - First Prize at the Young Composers's Competition of the Polish
Composers' Union for Monologi I
1961 - First Prize at the Youth Biennale in Paris for Symphony no. 1 "1959"
1965 - Award of Third Degree from the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts1968 - First Prize at the
Szczecin Composers' Competition for Kantata for organ
1969 - Award of First Degree from the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts
1970 - Annual Award from the Polish Composers' Union
1973 - First Prize at the UNESCO International Composers Rostrum in Paris for Ad Matrem
1973 - Award of First Degree from the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts
1976 - State Award of the First Degree
1992 - Award of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
1994 - Honorary Doctorate from the University of Warsaw
1996 - Honorary Doctorate from the University of Michigan
This is a modified copy of a biography from the Webpage “Polish Composers” of the Polish Music Center of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA. Copied with the permission of Ms. Krysta Close.
See:
Polish Music Center
For the list of Henryk Gorecki’s works see the above URL.
Other sources:
Classical Net
Columbia Encyclopedia
New Consonant Music
University of Michigan at Dearborn
Polish Consulate in Sheffield
Encyclopedia Britannica
Polish Music Reference Center
Radio France
Photo
Listen to Gorecki's music
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